European Travel

The birth of modern tourism is rooted in the recent history of Europe. The emergence of middle and upper classes combined with holiday time incorporated into the workplace together fueled by the industrial revolution contributed greatly to the emergence of the industry. The terms tourist and tourism appeared less than a century ago and referred to people traveling for periods over a day at a time. Previous to the 19th century, tourism was primarily reserved for royalty and privileged families and was generally for cultural reasonsThe British began touring the rest of Europe eventually finding and developing resorts to become popular destinations. This is rather quaintly evident in the legacy of holiday resort names scattered about Europe. The Promenade des Anglais of the French Riviera is the first and best established resort with the esplanade bearing its name. Scattered about Europe are hotels with names like the Hotel Bristol, the Hotel Carlton or the Hotel Majestic and more.The British popularized many winter sports both on island as well as abroad. In the middle 1800s, many villages in Switzerland came under entrepreneurial attention to provide ski resorts for the new leisure classes.﻿